The tyre salesman told me

Mate worked for Meneres BMW for 8 odd yrs, he was telling me of the same thing. BMW use it in their cars and improves the handling.

But if you get a flat out in the boonies, they wont have Nitrogen to fill your tires with, Im wondering what the mixture of Air tires on one side, and nitro on the other will do.

Apparently they use different colored Valve caps on the nitro to designate it?

herkman

I ran Nitro in a set of performance tyres on a Statesman I use to own. The difference was incredible. Long term the tyres wore well and outlasted and outperformed the previous set in every respect.

I admit the tyres were better than those I replaced but I strongly believe the Nitro played a good part. I am told it helps the tyre run cooler as one of the benefits therefore less wear.

I will be replacing the tyres om my patrol in the next few months and will ask for the Nitro. I am travelling across the hardtop to the otherside of the country in Sept.

IMHO I recon its worth it if you aren't going to let your tyres down for some time. If however, you do a bit of soft sand stuff often, its a waste of money.

As for the pop top, I doubt you would feel any difference but tyre life may be extended.

cheers

herkman.
The reason nitrogen is used in tyres is to make the tyre last longer by reducing the oxidation of the rubber. The effect on ride could only be a different pressure before and after, Eric.

dont all jump down my throat.but this is just my oppinion.been doing tyres for over 15 years.seen tyres doing 120000-130000ks with out nitrogen seen some tyres doing 15000ks with out nitrogen personaly just another customer con from bob who and now being followed bye others.why because there is money to be made thats why.how many of you people are quite happy with the way your tyres are wearing /handling if the answer is no .then go back to the basics alignment/presures ive never used it so i dont know if it is any better.but im happy with the way there running and have been as long long as ive been driving. ive got heaps of better thing to do with the extra $40 buckslooking foward to easter at jamieson

The real reason nitrogen is used is it reduces rubber oxidation which leads to tyre deflation over time. If you check your tyre pressures there is no reason to use nitrongen. No performance increase either. Air is 78% nitrogen anyway. And before you say any thing about the other 22% making a difference. About 20% of it is oxygen which is very close in all properties to nitrogen..

what happens when you've got to let your tyres down to say 10 psi when stuck on the mudflats?
To me it appears to be a waste of money for real 4WD's but if you've got yourself a shopping trolley then it may pay. Won't bother myself rather follow Diamond's instructions and get back to the basics.
Just my 20 cents worth

From "How Stuff Works":

"Many race car teams use nitrogen instead of air in their tires because nitrogen has a much more consistent rate of expansion and contraction compared to the usual air. Often, a half pound of pressure will radically affect traction and handling. With track and tire temperatures varying over the duration of a race, the consistency of nitrogen is needed.
Nitrogen pressure is more consistent than normal air pressure because air typically contains varying amounts of water vapor due to changes in the relative humidity on race day. Water causes the usual air to be inconsistent in its rate of expansion and contraction. So, a humid race in the southeast United States or a dry race in the desert western United States could make for unpredictable tire pressures if "dry" nitrogen were not used."

It appears then that nitrogen inflation is a waste of money for the rest of us.

Stephen.

Filling tyres with nitrogen originally come from the air craft industry.

So there must be something to it !

THE reason Nitrogen is required on planes is the pressures involved... eg: 747tyres 220psi cold & much more when hot! At those pressures the 21% oxygen would be very dangerous.
If you have so much money you really don't know what to do with it all, then go for Nitrogen! (Otherwise - Forget it!)

This topic has surfaced again, and again drawn the usual criticism from those who either:
a. can't see the sense in spending money,
b. relate this issue to the 'real' and not-so-real' 4wds, or
c. quote history to prove that nitrogen is useless.

Col, my experience is that it only costs $5 a tyre from the big BJ, they top it up for free anywhere their shop has N, and yes there is improvements in:
a.Chris
<- 1996 Troopy, the best!

This topic has surfaced again, and again drawn the usual criticism from those who either:
a. can't see the sense in spending money,
b. relate this issue to the 'real' and not-so-real' 4wds, or
c. quote history to prove that nitrogen is useless.

Col, my experience is that it only costs $5 a tyre from the big BJ, they top it up for free anywhere their shop has N, and yes there is improvements in:
a.Chris
<- 1996 Troopy, the best!

Again, this issue has drawn the usual group of those who don't want to spend money, think 'real' 4wds don't need it, or quote history and science to disprove the benefit of N.

Col, in my experience, loading up on N:
a. reduced heat generated on long runs,
b. proved that the pressures do not go down - to the point where I didn't have to check them as much,
c. reduced wear - less money spent,
d. cost only $5 a wheel from BJs and free top ups all around the country, and
e. when I had to reduce pressure and mix, did not cause problems.

Despite the notes above, it worked for me and I'll use it again and again. Chris
<- 1996 Troopy, the best!